Khanyisile Nkosi

Khanyisile Nkosi

A "decent, self-respecting" married mother yesterday told how South Africa's suspected worst serial rapist infected her with HIV.

"I was in Braamfontein when I met him and he proposed love to me," she told the Johannesburg high court yesterday.

Mongezi Jinxela then told her of a job at his workplace and convinced her to go with him.

"Along the way I asked him if he was not a serial killer and he said no. He said he doesn't do those things, and that he only came to me for love," the woman said.

But when they got to the open veld at Riverlea in Johannesburg, Jinxela raped her and robbed her of her necklace, wedding ring, watch, money and cellphone, she said.

She reported the matter to police and was taken to a doctor where she was examined and tested for HIV.

"I'm HIV positive," she said when state prosecutor Louisa Loots asked about the results of the tests.

Asked how the rape affected her, the 33-year-old woman said: "It shattered my soul."

She is convinced Jinxela is responsible for her condition because she was pregnant at the time and she and her husband had undergone tests.

"I was a respectable person, looking after myself well and not sleeping around. Then this man came and gave me HIV. He destroyed my life."

The state said the woman is one of the 65 victims Jinxela raped and robbed during his reign of terror.

Police put an end to it when he was arrested in September 2004.

Jinxela, 38, is said to have found his victims in malls in and around Johannesburg and lured them with promises of jobs.

But instead he allegedly led the women to remote areas where he assaulted, raped and robbed them.

Jinxela, who has denied all 261 charges against him, yesterday sat quietly in the dock and took notes as the woman relived the April 22 2000 incident that changed her life forever.

The trial continues.